


How Comfortable is Senketsu?

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Kill la Kill (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Analysis, Clothing, Gen, Nonfiction, Textiles - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:42:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22501942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: A brief analysis evaluating how comfortable Senketsu is relative to Junketsu.
Relationships: Matoi Ryuuko & Senketsu, Matoi Ryuuko/Senketsu
Kudos: 6





	How Comfortable is Senketsu?

> **Ryuko** : “I ain’t gonna take Senketsu off ever again. He feels different now…‘cause he’s got Satsuki’s and Mako’s blood flowing through him. He feels way better—and way warmer—than that monster Junketsu ever did!” -Episode 22

Is Senketsu comfortable? Well, Ryuko seems to think so. But in what way is he “better” and “warmer” than Junketsu?

Furthermore, what did she think about him _prior_ to wearing Junketsu, when she regarded him (or just compared him to) a sailor uniform?

**Procedures**

What makes clothing comfortable?

It’s difficult to find sources which evaluate overall clothing comfort in a standardized way. However, if someone were sufficiently knowledgeable in clothing comfort, that someone could use this procedure to figure out Senketsu’s comfort: 1. Determine what factors contribute to perceived comfort in clothing. 2. Figure out what properties (clothes-wise) Life Fibers have. 2.5. This would require listening to dialogue about Life Fibers and obtaining close-up screenshots of Life Fibers.(Or using [Aguagi’s post](http://aguagi.tumblr.com/post/163215862844/whats-the-size-of-a-single-life-fiber)on Life Fibers) 3. Figure out the specific way the Life Fibers were assembled, as different techniques may lead to different feels. 4. Figure out the (probable) sensory qualities of Senketsu by comparing his material and construction to real things. 4.5 For example, if individual Life Fibers are rough and scaly-looking, like wool fibers, kamui may share properties with wool garments. If the arrangement of pleats or stitches (from Step 3) resemble that of an actual, wearable garment, one can infer how he’d feel by wearing similarly pleated or stitched garments. 4. Compare the hypothesized qualities to a standard seifuku.

**Junketsu Procedures**

As for Junketsu, one could start the comparison after step 4 (compare hypothesized set of Senketsu traits to seifuku) or step 2. (Factors of clothing comfort, properties of Life Fibers in general)

Unfortunately, unlike Senketsu, there’s absolutely no on-screen evidence for how Junketsu was made.

The whole procedure is further complicated by the fact Senketsu is worn in two forms: his dormant, seifuku-like form, and his active form. When Ryuko says “he feels way better—and way warmer [than Junketsu] ever did!”, what does she mean? Does she mean Senketsu in his active mode feels better than Junketsu in both dormant and active mode, or that Senketsu feels better than Junketsu in both forms?

The procedure gets even more complicated by the fact Ryuko wasn’t, strictly speaking, _wearing_ Junketsu at the time: Junketsu was stitched onto her skin, necessitating her ripping it off.

Even if all these factors are taken into account, it’s still only a rough approximation. Junketsu was rewriting Ryuko’s memories, and possibly doing some other weird mental things to make her compliant to Life Fibers. It is possible the _only_ reason she considers Junketsu highly pleasurable to wear (despite being stitched on) is due to these weird mental things.

**Bonus: Social Softness Illusion**

Speaking of “weird mental things”, that can be a factor for Senketsu’s comfort too. (Though in his case, it’s unintentional) At the time she made the statement, Ryuko regarded Senketsu not as talking clothes but more like a wearable close friend. Through the social softness illusion, people have the persistent illusion others’ skin is softer and smoother than theirs.

Senketsu doesn’t exactly have skin, but there could be a similar effect here. Ryuko may consider Senketsu’s fabric pleasant to touch simply because she likes _him_ so much. She might also find it pleasant to wear him because he _enjoys_ being worn, and knowing he’s happy from it makes her happier than she would otherwise be.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my [Tumblr](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/). Feel free to comment on this article there or here.


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